I HATE irony
by Thiing1
Summary: Something happens on the way to school that may change Harima's perspective forever! But what is Tenma's take on this? I HATE IRONY! (I don't own School Rumble, if I did, the anime would not have ended so soon, but it did, so I don't.)
1. Nurse Mikoto

It was a beautiful and crisp morning. The birds were chirping... The sun was just barely peeking out from behind the mountains in the distance... And Kenji Harima had been in yet ANOTHER street fight before school.

Harima started walking to school, leaving behind the idiots that thought they could take him laying there. As he was walking Miss Suou pretty much APPEARED next to Harima causing him to start. She smirked in a quirky way when she noticed this. He sighed. "What do you want Miss Suou?"

"What makes you think I want anything?" She crossed her arms defensively.

"Because I can't come up with any other reason why you would talk to me." He replied, and although he said this as nonchalantly as he could, anyone could see that it hurt. Mikoto was surprised at this, and she voiced it saying quite firmly, "You forget, MR. HARIMA, that we don't HAVE to associate ourselves with you, we CHOOSE to. And I'm walking to school with you as a CHOICE. Take it, or leave it."

Harima was silent for a while as he studied Mikoto's face, as though trying to find reason to not believe what she had just plainly stated. Then, after finding none, he sighed heavily, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and jerked his head to indicate which way they should be heading.

After some time walking in silence Mikoto couldn't stand it anymore. Turning to look at Harima she noticed he looked scarier today than he normally did. And was that dirt on his shirt? How did he get so scruffed up? She studied his face, but it gave away nothing. '_He was probably in another fight_,' she thought. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her handkerchief to wipe off the dirt and scrapes on his face. When her gentle hand first touched his face, he stiffened. '_What was he expecting?_' Mikoto asked herself bitterly, '_ Did he think I was going to hit him?_' She looked up at his face and saw the intensity of his stare was more than the usual, and decided better than to push him on it. If looks could kill, he would be the last person alive. '_I'm glad he's not mad at ME, but who is he mad at?_'

"Rough day?" She asked quietly as she gently cleaned his face, in hopes of making him look more presentable at school AND to get more information as to why Harima-kun had been so PLEASANT as of late.

"S'pose you could say that," he mumbled just as quietly tilting his chin up so Mikoto could clean the scrape on his jawline with her handkerchief. "More like.. I've been doing some thinking," he mumbled more absently.

"Hmmm? Really? What about?" '_This could get interesting_,' she thought, and that she smiled victoriously as she managed to get a piece of stone out of a scrape on that went from about an inch from Harima's beard to just below his temple. He winced as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tenma running towards her and Harima. Oh boy, this was going to be a pain to explain to Tenma later, but right now she needed to help Harima. Not only with this problem he seemed to be having, but also with all the scrapes and bruises. The one that went up the ridge of his nose looked like it REALLY had hurt. She reached towards him.

Whether Harima would have confided in Mikoto or not, we will never know, because the next thing that Mikoto did changed EVERYTHING.

She removed his sunglasses.


	2. The Eyes Tell All

Harima squeezed his eyes shut tightly, hoping that somehow that would help hide his face from Tenma. Even if it DID, it didn't help with the aching pain from the scrape on his nose. Mikoto managed to clean it to the best of her ability, but she was limited now that Harima looked he had a stick up his butt. _'What's the matter with him anyway?'_ MIkoto asked herself.

Seconds ticked by as Mikoto wiped the blood away from his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Harima continued to panic. Mikoto had somewhat finished. If Harima didn't look like he was constipated right now then she might've been able to clean around his eyes better. She sighed and just did her best while hoping that Harima would calm down eventually.

Harima's heart was beating out of his chest. '_Or at least it WOULD be if this was some stupid manga,'_ he thought bitterly. He just wished he would have a heart attack right now and save himself some trouble. But of course, he didn't. He slowly began to relax as he felt Mikoto's fingers gently and deftly clean his skin with her handkerchief. He could tell she was slightly irate about him keeping his eyes squeezed too tightly, and if Tenma were to scream she would've done it already right? _'Right,'_ he nodded, mostly to convince himself that he was right, and opened his eyes to allow Mikoto free access. Mikoto smiled, thanking him silently. However, the silence never lasts long while Harima is involved does it?

Tenma's brain hurt. She knew Harima looked like SOMEBODY, but she just couldn't place her finger on it. She groaned, _'Thinking this much hurts my brain.'_ And then it happened. The thing that changed all things, the last puzzle piece fit right into place when Harima opened his eyes.

"PERVERT!" Tenma screamed at the top of her lungs.

* * *

_**I know it's short, but I am busy with other things. Still, I promise future chapters will be better... **_


	3. Run, Harima, Run

Harima felt a wave of relief as he heard no screams as he slowly, carefully opened his eyes. For a while, everything was fine. Quiet, but fine. All of a sudden as Mikoto was cleaning the cut on his nose, he watched as Tenma's eyes got bigger, and her mouth opened slightly in the way of preparing for a scream. Harima wanted to do something, ANYTHING to stop it, but it was as if he was rooted to the spot watching everything unfold in slow motion.

As Tenma's eyes slowly get bigger and bigger in recognition, he felt panic flood him like the tidal waves that are so common in japan. He immediately crashed the lids of his eyes shut, and tried to get back his glasses as he heard Tenma's frantic scream of, "PERVERT!" Getting back his glasses wasn't the easiest task since his eyes were closed, so after some failed attempts he finally opened his eyes, grabbed his sunglasses from a very startled Mikoto, turned tail and RAN.

To the human eye, what happened was done in under a minute, but to Harima, as he ran as fast as he could, feeling the shock-waves go through his feet and legs with each pounding step, it felt like a lifetime had socked him in the gut.

Tenma watched as Harima turned and ran. She knew that she recognized him from somewhere, but it took a while for it to sink in. 'Why did he run away? Is he ashamed?' She thought confusedly. She pondered on this for a while. Finally, she came to her own conclusion. 'Well, he should be.' Tenma huffed in annoyance and glared at the receding back of Harima Kenji. Soon, he was too far to see anything but a silhouette.

Tenma thought back to her hasty and shocked reaction. Did she regret it? NO. NEVER. Still.. seeing Harima's quick and shocking reaction had left its mark, and somehow she found herself chasing that wolf.


End file.
